You get What You Give
by GinnySocks
Summary: It's been eight years since graduation and Mike Chang has moved to New York City. He bumps into Rachel at a coffee shop and before he knows it he's back in a circle of friends he thought he'd never see again. Fabang story with a side of Puckleberry. Pezberry and Faberry Friendships.
1. New York, New York

Mike groaned quietly to himself as he stepped out the doors of the studio. The streets of New York were even more crowded than he'd expected them to be on a Friday evening. People rushed past past on the sidewalk, jostling his arm and stepping briefly into the street to move around someone who was moving particularly slow. The pace in New York was so fast and he still hadn't quite managed to feel comfortable here. He thought he'd be ready for New York after living in Chicago for the past eight years, but after only a month here he could see that the cities were almost as different from each other as they both were from Lima. In Chicago everything had been a bit slower, the city a bit calmer, and the people a tad friendlier.

He paused for a moment to adjust his bag and his earbuds before stepping carefully into the moving sea of people and heading east towards the subway. He took a moment to adjust to the flow of people, but he soon settled down and cranked up the volume on his iPod. His mind whirled as he worked out the steps to go with the song he had on repeat while his feet covered the increasingly familiar route towards the apartment he shared with a coworker.

A few blocks later Mike was crossing the street towards the metro when he caught a glimpse of someone exiting the coffee shop a few steps ahead of him. Her head was bowed towards the phone in one hand, while the other hand clutched a cup of coffee, but he would have recognized that petite brunette anywhere. He removed the earbuds and let them dangle around his neck as he quickened his pace a bit to catch up. When she glanced up to check the crosswalk his face split into a grin as her identity was confirmed.

She had earbuds in, he could see the tell tale white cord peeking out of the collar of her jacket, so he reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. Her head moved to a beat he couldn't hear but she didn't turned towards him, probably so used to people brushing against her on the sidewalk that she didn't think the tap was intentional. Moving closer he reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, feeling her tense beneath him before she whirled around.

Her eyes were blazing, her mouth open and he had no doubt she was ready to fire off a scathing lecture on how extremely rude it was to touch people in public, but the words died on her lips when she registered the face in front of her.

"Mike Chang!" she squealed and throw her free around his waist in an exuberant hug. He hugged her back just as exuberantly nearly lifting her off the ground, he'd forgotten how very tiny Rachel was. "What are you doing in New York? Last I heard you were in Chicago dancing with Hubbard Street."

"I was. Well, up until about a month ago. I loved it, but I got a job offer to choreograph for Alvin Ailey and I couldn't turn it down. I moved in early September and started work a week after that."

Rachel grabbed Mike's arm, pulling him away from the corner, moving back towards the coffee shop she'd exited earlier where they leaned comfortably against the window.

"That's incredible! Alvin Ailey is one of the best dance studios in the country, and they are incredibly lucky to have someone as talented as you working for them! I'm so proud of you!" Rachel bubbled with excitement, and Mike grinned in response.

"Thanks Rach. It's what I was working towards all along in Chicago, I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. What about you? Are you shocking everyone on Broadway? Last I heard you were the next big thing."

Rachel's grin grew even wider and her eyes sparkled with excitement, but she spoke with a more modest tone than Mike was used to hearing. "I don't know about shocking everyone, but I'm definitely working my way up. I just wrapped a run of Nunsense and I have an audition for Elphaba in the revival of Wicked! Everyone tells me I'm a shoe-in since I worked with the director when I was still at NYADA, but I've been practicing for weeks to make sure I'm 110% prepared to wow him."

Mik had no doubt she'd get the role, before he could open his mouth to say so her phone beeped and she nearly dropped her coffee in her attempt to read the message. Panic crossed her face as her fingers flew over the keys. Pocketing her phone she grabbed Mike's arm and pulled him along as she crossed back over the street he'd just came from.

"Uh, Rachel? I live that way." Mike pointed in the opposite direction with a look of amusement on his face.

"Well, I live this way. Do you have plans for dinner?" A satisfied smile settled on her face when Mike shook his head no. "Good. You're coming to eat with us tonight! It'll be fun to catch up, it's been ages since we've seen each other!"

Mike chuckled at the brunette's sudden decision making. She may be more modest about her success than she was in high school, but she's still just as stubborn and bossy as ever. He let her lead the way down the street, listening to her talk ramble on about the different things he absolutely had to do and see now that he was in New York.


	2. Chapter 2

A few blocks, three flights of stairs, and one seemingly endless hallway later, Rachel was pushing open the door to her apartment.

"Hello? Sorry I'm late!" she called out, dropping her keys into a bow by the door and tossing her purse on the sofa. She paused for a moment listening for an answer from inside of the apartment before shrugging. She gestured for Mike to drop his bag by the door as she made her way across the room to the small kitchen. "I guess I'm the first home. God, she had me panicking thinking I was late for dinner! Would you like something to drink? Water, coke, beer? We may have a bottle of wine left, but no promises on that."

"Uh, sure. A beer would be great." Mike answered. He moved into the living room, looking around at the cozy space with the overstuffed couch and chair facing a fairly decent TV setup. He noticed a medical book sitting on the coffee table and moved to pick it up, but stopped when one of the photos on the wall in the living caught his eye. It was a picture from the glee clubs win at Nationals their senior year. Everyone was beaming with joy and crowded around Artie who was in the middle holding the trophy securely in his lap. He grinned at how happy and young they all looked, it's hard to believe it had been eight years since they had won and it had been almost six years since he'd last seen most of the gang. He'd moved to study the other pictures on the wall when the front door flew open and a voice filled the apartment.

"Midget, I'm home! You better not be banging Puckerman in the kitchen again! I don't think my eyes can handle that twice in one week. You two need to-" Mike turned towards the door in surprise and whatever Santana was about to say next was cut off when she caught sight of him. There was a moment where she eyes him up and down and then proceeded to yell even louder than before, "What the fuck? Rachel, did you know Mike Chang is in our living room?"

"Nope, no idea Santana. He must've snuck in when I wasn't looking." Rachel replied dryly, walking back into the living room and handing Mike his beer. She took hers and dropped on the couch, trying not to laugh at the look on Santana's face.

"Hi to you too Santana, it's been a while." Mike said with a look of amusement on his face. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms loosely around the still shocked Latina. Santana shook herself out of her frozen state and returned the hug briefly. Letting go, she threw herself on the couch next to Rachel, snatching the beer out of her hands and taking a long gulp. Rachel glared at her before getting up to gab another beer out of the fridge, while Santana just grinned and motioned for Mike to sit down.

"Have a seat Chang. You can fill me in on why you're in my apartment while we wait for the rest of the crew to show up for dinner."

Mike settled into the empty armchair across from the couch and smiled at Santana. "I ran into Rachel on my way home from work, she sort of towed me along when I said I didn't have plans for dinner. But she didn't mention that she lived with you. He paused before adding, "Definitely didn't expect that."

Rachel stepped back into the living room with a new beer in her hands, "I may have forgotten to mention that part."

Santana snorted and tossed a pillow in her direction. Rachel screeched and ducked, spilling beer down the front of her shirt. "San! Look what you did! I've got to change before the guys get here." She turned and raced down the hallway, leaving Mike and Santana laughing in the living room.

"So, you and Rachel. Roommates? Did the world end without me noticing? Should I keep my eye out for flying pigs?"

Santana rolled her eyes, "Very funny Chang. Believe it or not we've actually been roommates since I transferred to Colombia junior year of college. I moved too late to get into the dorms and it happened that Rachel and Kurt were looking for a new apartment at the same time. So we ended up here. Puck, Kurt and our friend Ben had bets going on how long it would be before we killed each other, but it's worked our surprisingly well. New York has really mellowed Midget out." She paused and in a louder voice added, "I think it's all the sex she's having."

"I HEARD THAT SANTANA! DON'T BE CRASS!" Rachel's voice echoed through the apartment.

Mike clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter when Santana winked at him. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO! THATS WHY I SAID IT LOUDLY," she yelled back. "Anyway, we all lived together until about a year and a half ago when Kurt moved in with his boyfriend uptown to be closer to his job. Quinn moved in and took his old room."

"So, Quinn and Puck live here too? And did I hear correctly that he and Rachel are together?"

"Nah, Puck lives with Ben, but he's been pretty much a fixture in the apartment since he and Berry got over themselves and got together." Mike raised an eyebrow at that, but Santana waved him off, "That story requires much, much more alcohol than we currently have. Q moved into the city after graduation. She lived with a roommate she found on Craigslist at first, but that chick was _muy loca._ Seriously, don't ever do that shit, you don't know who you'll end up with. But it won't be pretty. She was over here all the time anyway, our couch pretty much had her name on it, so she jumped at the chance to move in when Kurt moved out. It's certainly not what I imagined my life going when I was in high school, but it works." she shrugged and took a long sip of her beer.

"I don't think any of our lives turned out the way that we thought they would in high school." Mike mused, turning the beer over a few times in his hands before looking up at Santana again. He looked up and could see the slightly sad and contemplative look in Santana's eyes.

They'd all left for college wide eyed, excited, and with promises to keep in touch and to meet back up at Christmas. Though, as the months went on phone calls, texts and messages between Mike and the rest of the gang had start to dwindle. When Christmas rolled around his parents came to visit him in Chicago and he missed the New Years Eve party they'd had at Mercedes' He promised to be back in the summer, maybe even hit up a pool party at Pucks.

The summer thing ended up not happening. By then he and Tina had gotten back together and broken up yet again. This time it had ended poorly and they were struggling to stay friends. He didn't really want to face a summer in Lima dealing with that, so he stayed in Chicago and took some extra classes. After a while it seemed like, for the majority of them, they were down to only the occasional Facebook post here and stray text there, barely keeping in touch.

The last he'd heard, none of the couples that had been together at graduation were still together. Rachel and Finn had long since broken up, same with Kurt and Blaine. Mercedes and Sam had made it longer than anyone had thought, but once Sam left for college in Tennessee their relationship had finally come to an end.

Out of all of them, Mike had the most faith in Santana and Brittany's relationship. He'd talked to Brit a few times over skype his first year in Chicago and she'd always been upbeat and positive that things were going fine. Eventually though the distance was just too much and they'd quietly ended things. They'd stayed friends and he knew that Brittany cared about Santana deeply, it just was one of those things were life didn't work out in their favor.

The Christmas of his sophomore year at college he was finally back in Lima and he met up with everyone at Rachel's house to catch up. He'd and Tina had been polite and greeted each other, but he'd drawn the line at being introduced to her new boyfriend. He'd mumbled a hello to Santana and Quinn, grabbed a beer and settled on the couch next to Sam. They spent the evening drinking beer after beer, sharing college stories, and watching their friends pretend like nothing had changed. Despite the fact that they were all tiptoeing around all the drama that had occurred.

Hi parents moved to Boston the summer after his sophomore year and he'd never had a reason to go back to Lima, so that Christmas was the last time he'd seen any of his friends.

A key in the lock shook Mike out of his memories and he looked up in time to see Puck and a red-headed guy he didn't recognize walk through the door followed closely by Quinn.

Mike drew in a sharp breath when he caught sight of the blonde. She was laughing at something Puck was saying and she reached out to slap him lightly on the shoulder. Quinn had always been pretty, but she'd matured in the years since he'd seen her last and now she was simply stunning. Her hair was a bit shorter and had a messy look to it that Mike wasn't sure was intentional or a result of the fall weather, but what stood out the most was her eyes. They no longer held the weary look of someone too young who'd seen too much, instead they sparkled and he thought he even saw a slight a mischievous glint to them.

When Santana cleared her throat he jumped and turned back to find her smirking at him over the top of her beer bottle. But before he could speak up Rachel had re-appeared in the living room and the the crowd in the entry way had noticed his presence.

"Chang! Dude, what the fuck are you doing in New York? It's been years since you showed your face back home. I thought you were in Chicago dancing and shit" Puck hauled him to his feet and pounded him on the back in greeting. Mike sputtered and choked a bit on his beer, but managed a smile in return to his friends greeting.

"Noah! Language!" Rachel called primly from where she stood leaning against the breakfast bar. Puck turned pink and turned to apologize to his pint-sized girlfriend, moving to her side and kissing the top of her head.

"And that's what we call whipped." a soft voice murmured in his ear and Mike whipped around to see Quinn standing right behind him, laughter dancing in her eyes.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day when Puckerman was whipped by a girl. Are we sure it's him and not his better behaved twin brother?" He whispered back.

Quinn laughed out loud and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He closed his eyes and hugged her back, breathing in the floral scent of her shampoo. "It's good to see you Mike." she said when she let go and stepped back.

"You too Quinn. It's been a long time." He grinned at her and the smile he got in return made his stomach flip. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them Quinn was dragging the red-head over and introducing him as Ben, a friend of Puck's from work. The guys worked together at a sports management firm that handled accounts for the Knicks and the Jets.

While Ben rambled on for a bit about his job, Mike glanced over his shoulder and caught sight Santana whispering to Rachel, the shorter girl listening with a gleam in her eyes. The girls were so caught up in their conversation that Rachel didn't even notice when she had her beer stolen for the second time that night when Puck reached over her head and plucked the bottle right from her hand. Puck caught Mike's eye and shrugged, mouthing _Girls_.

Mike grinned in response and turned back to the conversation with Ben and Quinn. He had a feeling he was going to enjoy New York much more than Chicago.


End file.
